How Do Psychosocial Factors Influence Mental Health?

Our mental health is our level of psychological health and well-being. It encompasses an individual’s social, psychological, and emotional states of mind. A person with the right balance between these areas seems to have good mental health.

But there are various factors also known as psychosocial factors that seem to have a great influence on mental health affecting an individual’s personal and professional life. 

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This piece of content will explore the major psychosocial factors affecting mental health and effective ways and approaches to improve mental health in the workplace.

General Mental Health Statistics at Work

Poor mental health is one of the most devastating issues faced by workers and people across the globe. It is seen that 1 in 4 people silently struggle with the issue. Alongside impacting the lives of workers and their surroundings, these issues are costly to businesses as well.

Mental health issues at work are also a significant cause of absences from work, resulting in almost 12% of employees taking several days off work, which in turn also costs a high cost to companies for paying sick leaves. 

Along with the cost of absenteeism, the cost of presenteeism is much higher when employees come to work even though they are constantly battling with their health concerns.

Keeping a track of all these health concerns, the duty falls on employers and responsible persons to have a vital knowledge of the root cause of the problem and preventive measures to avoid it.

Let us look at the various factors contributing to the problem. 

Factor Involved in Mental Ailments

Numerous mental health conditions are a combination of environmental, psychological, and biological factors. Let’s see what are these:

1. Biological Factors

Biological mental health illnesses occur due to the abnormal functioning of nerve cells. Several reasons are involved:

• Genes 

The common cause of mental health illnesses is that it runs in the family and so people are more likely to develop these issues as being inherited by them 

• Brain Defects

Defects or some kind of injury in certain areas of the brain are also some of the reasons for mental health ailments, as they can impact our social lives

• Other Factors

Other factors like poor nutrition, lack of sleep, and even fatigue can also result in poor mental health conditions

2. Environmental Factors

There are certain environmental factors as well that are susceptible to mental illnesses. 

These include:

• Stress, anxiety, depression
• Dysfunctional life 
• Changes in job
• Abuse or negligence 
• Other factors in the surroundings

3. Psychological Factors

Along with the biological and environmental factors, there are numerous psychological risk factors as well. These include:

• Traumatic past
• Neglect
• Poor connection with others 

Psychosocial Risk Factors

Along with the above-mentioned risk factors affecting mental health. There are some psychosocial risk factors as well that have been identified by the researchers. These organizational factors if not taken into consideration can cause severe damage to organizational health and the well-being of its employees. 

Below are some of the common psychosocial risk factors in the workplace:

1. Balance

A lack of balance is considered to be one of the most important factors causing mental health issues among workers.

It jots down to having an improper balance between professional and personal life. As an individual, we have multiple roles and responsibilities being employees, partners, parents, etc. These multiple roles can be enriching and help keep a balance between healthy life and work.

The conflict in any of these responsibilities can lead to overload or increased pressure of work which will in turn affect an employee’s performance as well as disturbs their personal life.

When an individual is unable to keep a balance between personal and professional life it alternatively affects his/her mental health.  

2. Clear Leadership & Expectations

Clear leadership with strong management skills help employees know what they need to do in terms of protecting their physical and psychosocial well-being. Good leadership helps increase employee efficiency, reduces sickness absence, and helps create a stress-free environment where everyone feels secure and protected. 

3. Workplace Culture

A positive work culture is a mix of values, beliefs, respect, and peace. An organization lacking in these aspects in its environment sees a greater risk of poor employee performance. When a company is unable to provide a health-centric work environment and job satisfaction there are high chances of it negatively influencing employee mental and physical health. 

4. Job Burnout

Job burnout or stress is also one of the major contributors affecting mental health and well-being at work. It is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion occurred due to demanding work conditions for extended periods of time. 

Job burnout can influence the mental health of an individual which leads them to take several days off work or can also result in a high presenteeism cost. 

The Solution to the Problem 

There might not be one solution fit for all, but the responsible persons having a legal duty of ensuring workplace safety need to have practical approaches to minimize the risk of getting injured or harmed.

One thing for sure is examining and inspecting the workplace to spot the signs of mental health issues and talking to the employees who are suffering from them.

Along with this, employers need to incorporate proper mental health awareness training sessions in their workplaces to give their workforce a good understanding of risk factors and ways to mitigate the risk.

These courses are a great way to cope with common workplace issues like stress, sickness absence, or job burnout.

David Prior

David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.